Motorcycle drivers on Thursday shut down the Ijegun Road in the Alimosho area of Lagos State, after a woman, Idongesit Ekpo, and her husband, Godwin, were shot by a team of policemen attached to the Isheri Osun Police Division. While Idongesit died on the spot, Godwin was said to be in a critical condition at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, where he was taken for treatment. It was gathered that the couple was returning from a church programme on Wednesday in a tricycle belonging to the family.Godwin met a police checkpoint at Obalagbe bus stop, where some other tricycle drivers were being reportedly extorted by an eight-man police team. He was said to have been flagged down by one of the policemen, but as he sped past, one of the officers shattered his windscreen with a baton. A police corporal, identified as Aremu Musesiu, was said to have opened fire on the tricycle.
It was learnt that the bullet pierced through the tricycle back side and hit Idongesit, who was breastfeeding a three-month-old baby. Her husband, Godwin, who looked back when the shot was fired, was said to have also been hit in the neck. The policemen were said to have hurriedly taken money from the tricycle drivers they had earlier detained, before fleeing the scene.
Tricycle drivers in the community trooped out on Thursday to protest the death and demanded justice for the victims. The protesters held placards, some of which read, ‘Isheri Police, your generation will suffer,’ ‘Stop killing us,’ among others. The protest train went to the Isheri Osun Police Station, where they met a team of armed policemen in more than six vans. An Armoured Personnel Carrier was also mounted on the road to the station.